Overview

There is an important debate raging about whether Iraq is becoming another Vietnam. Those who deny the similarities most vociferously are often those who know (or remember) the least about Vietnam. Kenneth Campbell knows Vietnam from his thirteen months of fighting there (he received a Purple Heart), and years of political organizing to get the United States out of the war. Here, Campbell lays out the political process of getting into, sinking deeper, hitting bottom, and finally pulling out of the Vietnam ...

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Overview

There is an important debate raging about whether Iraq is becoming another Vietnam. Those who deny the similarities most vociferously are often those who know (or remember) the least about Vietnam. Kenneth Campbell knows Vietnam from his thirteen months of fighting there (he received a Purple Heart), and years of political organizing to get the United States out of the war. Here, Campbell lays out the political process of getting into, sinking deeper, hitting bottom, and finally pulling out of the Vietnam quagmire. He traces the chief lessons of Vietnam, which helped the United States successfully avoid quagmires for thirty years, and explains how neoconservatives within the Bush administration cynically used the tragedy of 9/11 to override the “Vietnam syndrome” and drag the nation into a new quagmire in Iraq. In view of where the United States finds itself today—unable to stay but unable to leave—Campbell recommends that the country rededicate itself to the essential lessons of Vietnam: the danger of imperial arrogance, the limits of military force, the importance of international and constitutional law, and the power of morality.

Meet the Author

Kenneth J. Campbell is associate professor of political science and international relations and director of the international relations program at the University of Delaware. He is the author of Genocide and the Global Village (Palgrave 2001).

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Anonymous

Posted April 3, 2007

A reviewer

A Tale of Two Quagmires is a meticulously-researched examination of how the American public was misled into ruinous military adventures in Vietnam and Iraq and of the 'crucial lessons' that must be acknowledged in order to avoid such debacles in the future. Once a young, battle-hardened, Marine determined to survive his time in a war of dubious necessity now a highly-regarded scholar of international affairs, Professor Ken Campbell offers a reasoned alternative to this cycle of deception and quagmire. In doing so he does not entirely reject the necessity of wars: only those without legitimate purpose and clear-cut strategy. The wisdom contained in A Tale of Two Quagmires has the potential to put the United States on a road to recapturing 'the moral high ground in international relations' and, in the process, spare humanity the horrific consequences of such senseless and protracted conflicts -- a gift beyond value to future generations.

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